By Greg Pierce
Upon reading Senate bill S.5, the so-called Affordable Heat Act, my reaction — in utter horror — is Vermont fuel dealers voting with their feet en masse and choosing to leave the field of supplying fuel to their VT customers, neighbors and friends rather than face the bureaucratic nightmare that S.5 will create for them. This is particularly terrifying since no viable fossil fuel replacement strategy currently exists.
Instead of the S.5 folly of charging VT fuel dealers with the nightmare bureaucratic responsibility of taking Vermont out of our present atmosphere-polluting fossil fuel regime into an, as yet unknown, new non-polluting fuel regime, let’s do better legislation. Give VT fuel dealers a positive role in accomplishing this difficult but essential undertaking.
First, some energy source background. There’s been much talk on getting rid of fossil fuel but little sane discussion of replacements. As in:
Geothermal, grossly inefficient in northern climes and enormously disruptive of our subsurface—imagine huge drilling rigs putting down deep holes in the ground adjacent to each VT building needing to be heated and using electric heat pumps to pull a few BTUs of heat from 50˚F ground water as our electric meters spin wildly and our monthly power bills soar to unheard of new heights.
Bio-Mass, the methane generated in bio-mass projects is an even worse atmospheric pollution problem than carbon dioxide.
New Concepts in Wood Fuel, a cruel joke, undeserving of further discussion by serious-minded, intelligent citizens.
Hydroelectric from New River Dams, limited potential due to seasonal undependability of small Vermont river flows. Also, most likely, politically unfeasible.
Nuclear Fission Power, extraordinarily expensive with minimum twenty year time span from conceptual discussions to flipping the power switch at a completed facility. Also a short—twenty year— safe operating life span plus a forty year shutdown and decommissioning term.
Wind, tried on a small scale in Vermont, but huge societal push back and hence politically unfeasible.
Solar can be part of the solution when conjoined with a logical energy storage partner.
Now, let’s discuss an existing viable replacement for fossil fuels. It’s hydrogen, folks. Handled properly it’s our environmentally purest, safest, most cost effective, most logical replacement for fossil fuels.
First, brief hydrogen background. Hydrogen source—water— chemical formula H2O. Readily available, inexhaustible supplies, low cost. Each molecule of water has two hydrogen atoms, one oxygen atom. A simplistic device called an electrolyzer separates the hydrogen from the oxygen in an environmentally acceptable (green) manner. A low voltage electric current, such as that fed off an array of solar panels causes the water molecules to separate into hydrogen and oxygen. We easily, safely and cheaply collect and store the hydrogen. The oxygen is a bonus extra released to the atmosphere to augment (reportedly) declining natural stores.
So where do Vermont fuel dealers come into the picture? Slowly, painstakingly, augmented by state and federal grants, our fuel dealers can be assisted by new Vermont legislative mandates (replacements for the failed concepts embodied in Senate S.5) in
adding hydrogen storage, transport and dispensing facilities alongside of their existing corresponding fossil fuel facilities. Over time, a steady, undramatic transition of energy regimes occurs with minimal upset to customary lifestyles of Vermont citizens.
Background details. Hydrogen will soon be ready to play its role. A large green hydrogen production facility is currently under construction in the Town of Alabama, in Genesee County, in upstate New York. That facility will produce green hydrogen using hydroelectric power generated at existing Saint Lawrence River facilities by the Power Authority of the State of New York (PASNY). Hydrogen should be available for sale by early 2025.
But how do we get hydrogen from New York to Vermont fuel dealers? In the same manner as most of our fossil fuels presently come into Vermont—by ‘over-the-highway’ truck transport.
But how do Vermont fuel dealers store hydrogen after transport into Vermont? In the same manner as most fossil fuels are presently stored—in metal storage tanks. And here there is a bonus. Hydrogen is very economical of storage space—for two reasons. First, considered on a ‘per unit of mass’ basis, hydrogen provides a third more energy than any of the fossil fuels. Second, hydrogen, is customarily converted from a gas to a space saving liquid for ease and safety of transport and storage.
But surely there will be disturbing lifestyle changes if we adopt hydrogen to replace fossil fuels! Very few. Minor. Read on.
If you currently heat with natural gas, received via underground pipeline, the gas company, after re-lining pipeline interiors with a hydride shield coating will continue to supply your heating needs, but with green hydrogen, not natural gas.
If you currently heat with propane, trucked to your home and stored in tanks, your fuel supplier will switch out your propane tank for a new hydride protected hydrogen storage tank.
In either of the above cases, your existing furnace and/or gas cook stove will need only minor interior retrofits, again for hydride shielding.
If you are currently ‘off the grid’, heating, lighting, powering appliances, etc. via solar or wind, you can add an onsite hydrogen storage tank and fuel cell to convert hydrogen to a reliable electricity source. In a single summer you can store a year’s supply of hydrogen.
Personal transportation? Are you among the many Vermonters appalled at the idea of battery powered electric automobiles with all their attendant downsides? Consider switching to a hydrogen auto. Toyota has been making them since 2017. Honda and Hyundai are following Toyota’s lead. Go online and check it out. No ‘hours-long-wait’ for a battery charge, just a five minute fill-up, same as always, at your regular filling station.
Finally, go online. Check on the following hydrogen info:
- Mike Strizki’s NJ personal home and his Hydrogen House California’s progress in hydrogen
- Safety of hydrogen on several YouTube videos
- The Green Hydrogen Coalition’s ‘Green Hydrogen Guidebook
The author, a Saint Albans resident, is a retired Professional Engineer.